


It's Never Too Late

by MistakenAngel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst and Drama, Dark Magic, Eventual Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:08:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 14,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28707174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistakenAngel/pseuds/MistakenAngel
Summary: With the death of the late Empress Liliana, the Republic is now in turmoil. Emperor Severus, Caesar of Rome, is in deep mourning with the loss of his beloved wife, and has no wish, or inclination to remarry any time soon. The Senate has been throwing beautiful senator daughters into Caesar's path, hoping that he would take an interest in one of them. But to no avail. Until, a beautiful, clever witch by the name of Hermione comes to the Imperial Palace, and plays on the lute a lovely song that captures the grief-stricken Emperor's heart. Can this daughter of a minor senator win the wizarding Emperor's heart, or will it only become a minor affair? Well, read and find out, folks!As always, please don't forget to vote, comment, and enjoy! Thank you so much, in advance!
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Severus Snape, Lily Evans Potter/Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

One: The World Ends: Severus

The councilors tried to keep the truth from him, but he knew the truth in their eyes as soon as the bells in the city began to ring their mournful dirge. Empress Liliana Snape, of Rome, was dead. Dead from a wasting disease that the mediwitches and wizards could not cure with all of their vast knowledge.

The black haired Caesar looked up from his parchments laid out in front of him on his desk, and he suddenly felt like someone had hit him with the killing curse. Lily was gone. _Gone_. Gone! GONE! His Lily, the only witch in the entire Republic that could soothe his past demons away, was dead, and there was not a damn thing he could do to bring the woman he loved back into his arms.

He knew that as soon as the bells stopped ringing over the city that his councilors would be demanding him to take another bride. But he had no wish to do this. Who would be able to replace Lily? He loved her more than life itself, she was his everything.

Severus collapsed on to a couch and began to sob bitter tears. "Lily...Lily....I love you, don't go, sweetheart...don't go," He kept repeating over and over again.

For two years this went on, long after the vestal priestesses burned the Empress's body. It took everything in him to resist jumping up on the funeral pyre to end it all, along with his beloved wife. He loved his wife, but it would only be a matter of time before his councilors demanded that he wed again.

So he shut himself away in his personal chambers, and only his trusted friend and advisor Lucius Malfoy was allowed to see him. 

"This cannot go on, Severus," Lucius said, doing what he could to keep his dark cousin from going insane with grief. Lily had been his cousin's world, and he feared that he wouldn't be able to love another witch again.

Severus cried and cried, and at the end of his mourning period, he was urged gently back into the light as Lucius reminded him that Lily would not want him to grieve for what was lost. So it was, that at the end of two years, the Emperor of wizarding Rome, was urged that it was in the best interest to take a wife as soon as possible. The only trouble was finding one that would be able to gentle the demons inside such a wizard. For what is power and riches, if one does not have love to share it with at the end of the day?


	2. Keeper Of The Vigil: Hermione

She pushed her plaited brunette hair out of her sweaty, flushed face after Harry climbed off of her for the third time that night. Her insides were filled with a delicious ache from the force of her husband's antics earlier. She shifted her position on their bed. A little of his cum leaked on to her thigh, and she prayed that it would take root in her womb.

He was putting on his armor, and she watched her husband, admiring his perfect back side as he got dressed. "Must you go, Harry? I was hoping that you didn't have to go on campaign so soon."

Harry raked a hand through his short, black hair, and sighed deeply, "I wish I didn't have to, my love. But someone needs to command Germania, and put those barbarians to heel." 

It was an old argument between them, and one she had no hope of winning, "But must it be _you_? Surely the Emperor's nephew, Lord Draco, is a lethal soldier, and a terror to wizards and muggles alike."

Harry put his gladius in its sheath, and sat on the side of the bed. "He is, but he's also a skilled politician, and he is helping to keep this Empire together while Caesar grieves for the loss of his beloved wife."

Tears filled her eyes. Empress Liliana was by all accounts, a very generous, and sweet witch. It was well known that Caesar Severus loved her fiercely, and she him as well. Before the Empress's household was dissolved, she had been one of her many ladies in waiting. They had only Harry, but he was from a previous marriage of Liliana's where her husband treated her horribly. He was not in line to be Caesar, which was why Hermione was able to secure his hand in marriage as a former lady in waiting.

But his rank meant nothing to her, she loved her husband, and he loved her as well. She was just so scared of losing him to yet another battle for the glory of Rome.

"Harry, please don't go," Hermione pleaded. "Please. I have such a terrible feeling that this is the last I will ever see you."

Harry kissed her, "Nonsense, dearest. I will never leave you. I promise, Hermione, I'm coming back to you. I love you."

Hermione began to sob, "I love you too, Harry. So very much."

"Then it's okay," He said, between kisses, "Because I have you to come back to. I promise you, my love, I am coming back."

"I will hold you to that."  
"Yes, ma'am." He saluted, and took her in his arms, and kissed her passionately, pouring his love and devotion for her into that single kiss. He pulled away from her, and Hermione had the distinct feeling that in that kiss that it would be the last she would ever receive from her husband.

When Harry left with his men out of the main gates of their villa, Harry blew her a kiss as he rode away on his horse. It would be the last time she would ever see him alive: His short black hair encased in his helmet, and his emerald green eyes shining with pure love for her, only her...

✒--------

Two Months Later...

Harry was brought back to the villa underneath a bloody red death shroud. Hermione collapsed beside his funeral bed, unable to move or think for three hours. Her husband was dead. Dead. DEAD!

One year. They had only been married a year, and he had been the only wizard she had ever loved. He was her world, and she was his. She couldn't stand to see his handsome body burn for the entire household to bear witness to their lord's death. So she locked herself in her room, and kept Harry with her as long as possible.

Finally, after a week, a knock sounded on her door, and the sound of the locks breaking on the door. Draco Malfoy marched in, and covered up his nose with a handkerchief.

"Gods, it stinks to Olympus in here!" He complained, and proceeded to flick his wand about, opening the windows, and drapes. The noon day sun came streaming in, and he was alarmed to find Lady Hermione Potter so thin and pale.

She didn't care, she no longer felt alive. Her heart was with the corpse on her bed. "When was the last time you left this room, my lady?" He asked, concern in his voice now.

Hermione could barely look at the handsome senator wizard. "S-since he was brought to me thus," She finally answered.

Draco sighed, "That's it, you are coming with me to the palace. I refuse to see not only my Emperor, but my friend's wife waste away in front of my eyes."

"No, Draco, I have to stay here, Harry needs me," Hermione pleaded, crying. She held tight to her husband, and it took a few guards to wrench her away from the dead body. She was screaming when she was placed in the back of the litter, and she fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion.

She didn't care if she ever woke up, because her world died with her husband. Why should she live in a world where she was alive and he was not? No, she was determined to be with him no matter what. Who cares if it took the loss of her own life to do it? This world held nothing but death and decay any way, and she would go join Harry, because he promised that he would never leave her, he promised...


	3. A Difficult Negotiation: Lucius

After Lady Potter was brought in from the Potter estate, the handsome blonde wizard did not relish his current duty of being one of Caesar's many councilors informing the Emperor that he needed to remarry in the hopes of producing heirs for the wizarding Roman Empire.

Severus had only recently taken the first baby steps in ruling the Empire again. Lucius knew that his cousin was already sick of the witches that were being presented to him, but with the arrival of Lady Hermione Potter, he felt his spirits lift somewhat. He had never personally met the witch, but she was a strong leader, but was capable of kindness as well. He thought that his cousin needed that badly in a wife.

Draco knocked on his office door, and he said, "Enter."

Draco came in and said, "Lady Potter has arrived as you requested, father."

He signed his name to some petitions, and put his quill back in its inkpot. "Where is she now?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"In her quarters, and refusing to emerge even though the servants have tried to make her presentable for Caesar," Draco answered. He fidgeted with the embroidery of his outer toga nervously, "The good thing is that she is eating again. When I had her brought her from her villa, she was alarmingly thin and filthy. But...there is a disturbing development that the servants just told me this morning."

Lucius sighed. He prayed that the witch wasn't fatally ill. "Oh, just spit it out, boy. My time is precious. I have enough to deal with in trying to coax a griefstricken wizard back into society again."

Draco took a deep breath and said, "Lady Hermione was pregnant, but...well, because of her being so stressed and starving herself out of grief over Harry, she...well, lost it."

This was terrible news. But then an idea occurred to him: Severus was a genius with potions. Surely, if he could arrange for him to take care of her as a lowly apothecary then she might be persuaded to come out of her deep depression. He just feared that his cousin would be his usual surly, stubborn self, but at least it would be a step in the right direction....

✒----------

"No, I won't do it!" Severus argued. "Go hire some apothecary, Lucius. I have no time to lavish on some stupid, spoiled widow."

The Emperor raised his glass of wine to his mouth, and it was smacked out of his hands by a very angry Lucius Malfoy.

"What the fuck, Lucius?!" He shouted. "Are you looking to get yourself killed? Because I certainly can have you strung up along with those insufferable muggle heathens who are sowing dissent in the Empire currently."

"Yes, I know. You can call for my death at any time," Lucius rounded on his cousin. "You have the power of life and death over us all, Caesar. But you are also my cousin, and you _will_ listen to me: Lady Hermione is not just any lady bent on sniffing out riches or prestige, but Harry's widow. She has her late husband's wealth to fall back on, but I think it would be a good match for you, and--"

"No."  
"Excuse me?!"  
"The witch is half my age," Caesar explained, "And it would seem quite queer if I wed the widow of Lily's son. What about Narcissa's sister Bella?"

"Bellatrix is absolutely insane," He explained. _Really, Severus? You would honestly pick that insane bitch over this one?_ "And besides, since when did you give a damn about what others thought of you?"

The faintest of smiles appeared on the Emperor's dour face. "Exactly how old is this paragon of worthiness? If she is underage, I really will string you to a cross myself and have lions devour you, Lucius."

Lucius grinned, and said, "She is twenty-four, hardly what you would call underage, my Lord. My son tells me that she is beautiful in an earthy way. Brown hair, hazel eyes, fashionably pale."

"So have him marry her."  
"He is already married to Lady Astoria," He reminded Caesar. "She's a snobby, dullard of a witch, but she gives him heirs."

At that, Severus barked a bitter laugh, "Well, gods only know that I have made my share of bastards over the years before my wife changed my life around for the better."

"Are you going to at least go see this witch?" Lucius pressed. He was losing his patience. He loved his cousin like a brother, but he could be a stubborn, sarcastic prick when he wanted to be.

Severus didn't answer him for a long time, and he poured himself a fresh glass of wine, and drained it in one sip. "You really aren't going to back down from this, are you, cousin?"

"No, I'm not."  
"Very well," Severus grumbled, "I will see her when my duties permit me." He took his black wand out, and flicked it in the direction of his medicine closet. A vial of red potion flew into Severus's hand. "In the mean time, make her drink this blood replenisher, and that she takes nourishment. I will see her when I am able."

Lucius felt a weight lift off of his heart. Severus scowled when he smiled. "I do this for Lily's sake," Caesar said curtly, "Not out of compassion, or empathy for the girl. Now, unless you have further pressing business, I have several meetings with the muggle Senate and wizengamot that can no longer be delayed."

Lucius nodded, and bowed before leaving his Emperor's presence. Draco met with him in his quarters, anxious for any news good or bad.

"Well, will Uncle take care of her?" Draco asked, anxiously. "I would hate to have to hire some potions apprentice to entrust Lady Hermione to their care."

"Well, you can relax, son," Lucius assured his son, "But your godfather will be caring for Lady Hermione after all. Make her take this blood replenisher potion, and have her eat. He said that he would visit her in the evening." He handed the red vial to Draco and he pocketed it.

Lucius stopped his son from hugging him. He raised an eyebrow at his son's outburst of emotion. Draco smiled. After Draco left, and Narcissa returned from the marketplace, he filled her in on the details of this new development.

"You truly are playing Cupid, I think, dear," Narcissa teased lightly. "Have you told Draco about our lovely news yet?"

He rubbed his wife's still flat belly. "No, I have not had occasion to, but I will."

She winked, "Good. Then come to bed, we could use some attention."

Lucius laughed, "Oh? And what kind of attentions would these be, my lady?"

Narcissa laughed, and tugged gently on his hand in the direction of the bed. "Oh, I'm certain that I can think of a few things. Come to bed, Lucius."

He followed his wife to bed, and she showed him just what attentions she had in mind for him for the evening...


	4. A Late Night Visit: Severus

He took care to dress as a lowly apothecary for the evening. Dinner had gone later than he intended, and it was all over the usual stupid politics. The black haired wizard Emperor threw on a cloak over his roughspun robes, and headed out with Draco Malfoy for company. 

Lady Hermione's quarters were dark by the time they arrived, and Draco had to sweet talk the guards to let them in. Severus stifled his amusement at that: using a Junior officer to gain entrance into a part of his own palace; such a thing was, indeed, quite laughable. The rooms were fitting for a high status lady, and the servant led him through to Lady Hermione's inner chambers. But what he saw truly stirred what passed for his heart these days: The witch was barely ailing, and still frightfully thin. Indeed, she looked as if she were barely a skeleton. 

Draco nodded, and looked sad. He nodded back, and approached the bed cautiously, the last thing he wanted to do was frighten the poor woman. He checked her vitals with his wand, and frowned. 

"Will she live?" Draco whispered.  
"Yes, with a lot of care on my part, and that of healers during the day," He explained, "But I would rather she not know who I am. I want her to have her own life."

Draco's face fell. "Soo, you won't marry her, then?"

"I would rather not, but..."  
"But what?"  
Severus scowled, "Never you mind, boy. Honestly, you are as bad as your father sometimes. I am here to attend to her, nothing more."

Severus took out a few potions, and administered to his patient. Color seeped back into Lady Hermione's pallid cheeks, but it wouldn't nourish her, only keep her alive. If she continued to refuse nourishment, he would have to order the servants to be more proactive with her. 

He pulled up her covers to her chin, and tried to remember her as the youthful, vivacious witch she used to be. She was one of Lily's favorite ladies, he remembered, and although he never really interacted with her, she was quite pretty in her own unique way. 

"I want Lady Hermione to eat and drink," He ordered the same servant who let them in earlier. "If she refuses, make her do it. I know she has perhaps lost the will to live, but try to brighten her spirits."

"Yes, Caesar," The girl trembled.  
"That will be all."

He strolled out of Lady Hermione's quarters, and went to his own. Why he cared about preserving this one witch's life, he didn't know, except that Lily would perhaps not want a maid under her charge to die of depression and grief alone. Yes, that was it. It had to be, right? What other explanation could there possibly be?

He got ready for bed, and laced his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling for what seemed hours. Lily, Lily. It all came down to Lily. Her son Harry by that abusive prick James Potter, had been this lady's husband. Thank the gods, that the boy had been nothing like his father.

He had grudgingly liked the boy, even given him honors that other men perhaps were more qualified for. But the young wizard exceeded his highest expectations, and carried out his orders in Germania to quell the further threat from Marvolo Gauntus using them for his soldiers in this coming war. He had found the whole affair distasteful to use muggles in such a barbaric way. 

No, he could not go back on his word to find a bride. Lily would want him to find some measure of peace again. But he would attempt to befriend this witch first before such lofty formalities were exchanged between them. He just hated that it all came back to Lily! Lily with her beautiful green eyes, and auburn hair. The one witch to have captured his heart completely.

Was love out of his reach? Could it be done? No, he did not believe that he could. After all, he had promised to love only Lily on their wedding day. What was one griefstricken witch to him, any way? He had more important things to think of than one poor, sick woman who was nursing a shattered heart. 

With that, he slept, but he received no peace or comfort in his dreams, for as usual, his demons came back to haunt him yet again in force, and only Lily had been able to soothe him, and give him the strength to go on when his strength all but dried up. Was it too late to love? He had to know. Little did he know, but this was the first step in his long road to recovery, and the destruction of his inner demons for good...


	5. The Awakening: Hermione

How long had she been asleep? No, time did not matter. Harry was with her, after all. He was standing on their balcony, and drinking wine. She looked down, and realized that she only had on a thin robe that was so sheer she might as well have been naked.

"You need to leave soon, Hermione," Harry said without turning to face her. She wrapped her arms around his slender waist, but she felt...nothing. Why? She could feel him earlier when they made love. Why couldn't she feel him now? What was wrong?

Harry drained his glass, and set it aside on the railing. His green eyes looked sad as he looked down at her as he wrapped his arms around her. "I had promised that I would come back to you, and I have," He said sadly. "But he needs you now."

Tears streamed down her face. "Who, darling? Who needs me?" She demanded. "Please tell me, Harry."

"Someone who needs you just as much as you need him," Harry said cryptically.

He stood away from her, and blood began to pour from multiple cuts on his torso, and his scalp bled from his head, and some brain matter began pooling on the marble floor. "Harry! Harry, no!" Hermione sobbed. "Please don't leave me again. I can't take it."

Harry began to fade from her eyes, "You can, and you will. You are his, and he is yours. Farewell, Hermione. I will await you in the afterlife. Goodbye..."

✒-----------

He faded from her eyes and then the darkness swallowed her once more. But it was not the full darkness of death, because when her eyes fluttered open, she could see that she was in a room not her own, and her team of serving ladies were not her own as well.

A red haired serving lady screamed when she saw her wake up, her small hand flying to her chest. "Oh! My apologies, my lady! I...I...none of us thought that you would ever wake up. But um, well, your healer had every hope. Do you want breakfast?"

Food. Her stomach rumbled. When was the last time she had any? Oh, right, before she found out Harry had died. But surely that was only a few days ago. Right? No, that couldn't be right. This room was too opulent and spacious to be her personal quarters at the villa. Where in Olympus was she??

The maid was giving her a sympathetic look. "My lady? Did you want breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" She asked, tasting the word on her tongue. Well, Harry would not want her to knowingly starve herself. "Yes, I think that will be agreeable. But what is your name, girl?"

The girl blushed shyly, "Oh! Um, my name is Ginervra. But my friends call me Ginny."

Hermione smiled at the younger witch. "Ginny. I like the sound of that. May I call you, Ginny?"

"Of course, my lady."  
"You are dismissed, Ginny."

The red haired girl bobbed a curtsy, which Hermione found quite odd. Her own servants, magical and elf, never felt the need to curtsy to her. Only senator's wives and the Empress was curtsied to, everyone knew that. Where _was_ she?

Breakfast was brought to her in bed, and the servants opened up the curtains to reveal more of the room. Hermione looked around the room, and suddenly had a pit fall into her stomach. The Imperial Palace! Why on Earth was she here??

She ate her food, and drank her water. She had no idea why she was so ravenous, but she fell on the food as if she had not had sustenance in a long time. She did not get through half of it before she felt completely stuffed.

A servant took her food away, and Hermione soon felt very sleepy. Way more than she should have, but she didn't care, because in her dreams Harry was there, he was always there. But when she slept this time, it was only darkness, darkness and loss unending as she slept and wrestled with her inner demons...


	6. A Partial Relapse: Severus

"How long ago did she wake?" The disguised Emperor asked with some impatience. He had expected some resistance to the treatment, but not to this degree, naturally. The trauma of Lady Hermione's grief was worse than he imagined.

The maid stammered, "S-six hours a-ago."

Severus nodded. "Leave us. I will watch over Lady Hermione."

"Yes, sir." 

  
The girl all but ran out of the room in terror. Severus lit an oil lamp beside her bed, and looked down at the troubled widow's face. Thus far, he had not entered the witch's mind, because he wanted to exhaust all other options first. Mind travelling could be dangerous, because a person's mind was unstable, and the traveler could become too lost within the host's mind. He had read of many skilled legilimens becoming insane that way, especially if the host's body died, and the host's mind had become their reality.

Lady Hermione's breathing was more stable, and there was some healthy color in her otherwise pallid complexion. He smoothed back her wavy brown hair, and opened up his potions master case. He took out the necessary vials, and administered them.

He waited for the effects to take shape: A rustling of the body, a rolling of the eyes underneath the eyelid which indicated returning to REM sleep. 

"Come on, my lady, wake," He grumbled aloud. She had been lying prone for nigh on two hours now with no response to the potions that brought a person back to wakefulness. 

He took her frail hand in his, and after another hour, he began to despair of this witch returning to the land of the living. He was about to get up, when he felt Lady Hermione's hand stir, and she let out a soft moan. A tear ran down her cheek.

"Harry...Harry, no..." Hermione cried. He dipped briefly into her mind, and saw the former maid trying to convince his step son Harry Potter, to remain at their villa, and return to bed. Severus pulled out of the witch's mind and sat back. He didn't want to mind travel. Hours and days inside would be mere minutes passing in the subconscious world. But it was clear that Lady Hermione needed to speak to him directly, because it was the only thing that was going to release her from this grief they were both enslaved by.

Severus then laid upon the bed beside the troubled, griefstricken witch, and took her hand in his and laid down. "Legilimens," He murmured, closing his black eyes. It was then that he entered Lady Hermione's mind, and it was then that they met directly for the very first time...


	7. A Shy Encounter: Hermione

Harry would not be moved in his decision to leave for the front lines of Germania. Why was he not giving them a chance as a couple?? How dare he! He promised that he would return from this war to their bed, he _promised_ her!

But as soon as Harry left, there was another man standing on the driveway. He was tall, and imposing, dressed as a Caesar, but he wore his robes almost with disdain, as if the gold laurel crown he wore was distasteful to him. But still, he was handsome in a dark, foreboding kind of way. He was also Lady Lily's husband, Harry's own stepfather! What could the wizard possibly want with a former lady in waiting? He could have any witch in the Empire for a night. So, why pay attention to her?

"I'm sorry, Caesar," She said lamely. "I didn't see you standing there. I was trying to convince my husband to stay home, rather than fight for...well, _you_."

The Emperor stepped closer to her, and up close, her heart sped up. "I assure you, Lady Potter, that I had nothing to do with my step son's assignment."

Somehow, she believed him, but she couldn't really say why, exactly. "Well, would you like to come inside and talk? The sun is about to go down, and dinner will be served soon," She found herself asking.

Emperor Severus bowed. "I think that that would be agreeable."

She nodded, and she had him follow her through the main gates up into the main villa. Within twenty minutes, dinner was laid out before them, and they ate their food quietly. She was seething with anger at Harry. How the hell could he do this to her?!

"He did it because he valued his duty to Rome over you, my lady," Severus said plainly, sipping a glass of wine. "Oh, have no doubt that he loved you, but his sense of duty was too much for him to resist."

Hermione looked at her guest with shock. Past tense, why on Earth was he speaking in the past tense? Harry had just left her two hours ago. The man must be insane, yes, that was the only logical conclusion that she could come up with: Caesar was definitely crazy.

"My husband is alive."  
"He is not," Caesar insisted. "I can prove it. Protego."

Memories of Harry lying on a table bleeding and broken from many sword, curse, and arrow wounds washed over her. She knew they were memories, and not dreams, because they were more vibrant in detail, and felt more real than reality. She pulled back, and the memories ceased.

She cried, "He swore to come back. He did. But...he came back a corpse. And I...I tried to hang on to him. I didn't want the servants to burn him. But when the torch was lit over his beautiful, broken body, I couldn't handle it. I...I blacked out."

She didn't know why Caesar was hugging her then, but she welcomed the feel of a strong man's arms around her once again, even if the wizard in question was Casear Severus Snape, and not Harry Potter.

She cried until there were no tears left. There would never be enough tears, but she had to move on, Harry would want her to live for him, not wither away I'm a sick bed the rest of her life. It was then that she began to feel reality shift around her, and become misty and foggy.

"Where...where are we...my lord?" She asked, in confusion. Nothing felt real among them, but them, of course. Doors littered the foggy, incorporeal space they occupied, but only two were presented to them.

Lily, the first door read on the gold plate. The next one was Reality. She saw Caesar walk towards the door marked Lily, and his hand was just about to turn the gold knob when he looked at her. Hermione felt heat wash over her as he looked at her.

_Wow, he's so handsome, and brave. So brave! Is it wrong for me to want to help him get over his grief the way he did with me?_

"Will you come with me, my lady?" Caesar asked softly. He indicated the door marked Lily.

Hermione drew his hand away from the door knob, and reached up to caress his cheek. Their eyes locked in place, and tears formed in his eyes. "I can only give you part of my heart if we go through the Reality door," He whispered. "In Reality, I have no desire for marriage, or companionship, just the duty of office."

Hermione placed her hand on his, and guided it to the gold door knob. "Then we need to free each other. Together. Will we remember all of this when we step through the Reality door?"

"Yes."  
"Good. Then let's go, together."

  
"Together," Caesar agreed, and as one, they turned the door knob to Lily and stepped through, and into Severus Snape's mind...


	8. A Painful Past: Severus

In all his years, the one thing no one could accuse the fearsome Caesar of the wizarding Roman Empire was fear. But he certainly felt it as his fingers grazed the golden doorknob with the letters Lily engraved on the white door on a gold plaque. 

But Lady Hermione's small hand touched his gently, and she said soothingly, "We can do this together. I'm here for you, Severus.

He raised an eyebrow, "Are we on a first name basis, witch?"

She blushed, "We might as well be. You saved me from my memories of Harry Potter. It's only fair that I save you from your memories of Lily."

Severus nodded, strangely touched by the witch's support. They turned the door knob as one, and stepped through. 

Immediately, Severus could hear the sounds of the men and women he killed in his long climb to power, but the fields held no bodies, only a lone figure of a woman with red hair, standing on a tall hill. She had their backs to them, but she was wearing a beautiful green stola. 

They walked towards her, but as they journeyed there, the distance became further away than it originally appeared. Bones, skeletons, and blood..entrails...so much death and destruction. 

A tall, somber faced woman approached them, and Severus stiffened before her. Eileen Prince. 

"Choose, my son," His mother said. "You know the choice, but are you willing to make the sacrifice?"

"I choose to talk to my wife," Severus asserted. "You have no right to keep me from her."

His mother laughed, and it held no warmth or love in it. "Is she your wife? I sense another usurping her place."

"Choose, son," Eileen Prince said, and she began to take off a piece of her porcelain face, and peel the skin back. "Quickly."

Hermione cowered beside him. He let her bury her face in his robes. "Leave this place, shade," He scowled, "You're dead. That brute you married saw to that."

His mother's black eyes narrowed, and she stepped forward. She saw Lady Hermione and she opened her mouth. It was full of sharp teeth, and his mother's hands became claw-like as she tried to reach for her! 

A fierce instinct to protect the witch beside him rose within him, and he drew his wand. "Avada Kedavra!" He snarled.

The shock on his mother's face was etched upon her peeling, demonic face as the curse struck her. "Reducto."

Her body blasted into thousands of pieces, and she screamed shrilly as she became nothing once more. A tear rolled down his face, but he wiped at it angrily. 

The phantoms echoed from their graves, "A choice...A choice to be made...Past or Future...Forward or back...Peace or war...war...waaar..."

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked, looking up at him. 

Severus shook his head, and said, "Do I continue to Lily? Or choose you? I have been haunted by my grief for years after her death."

Hermione teared up, "I will understand if you don't choose me. I am nothing, just a maid in your wife's household."

Severus turned to face her, and noticed her beauty, the inside beauty shining through the surface for the first time. A breeze caught her hair, and he said, "I still have more to confront. Do you understand?"

"Yes. But Lily is dead, Severus," Hermione said, caressing his cheek. "I'm not. Thanks to you. You saved my life."

Severus flashed her a rare smile. "I'm not ready to go back. And I cannot give you what you need unless we do this. Are you with me?"

Hermione nodded, "Of course, always."

"Always," He agreed.

He kissed her hand, and they continued on their journey. Time seemed to have no bearing in this realm between the conscious and subconscious mind. But as they journeyed through each other's minds, they faced down many of his demons. But the hardest would be Lily herself, because for all intents and purposes, she still held a great deal of the dark wizard's heart with her...


	9. A Painful Past Pt. 2: Hermione

They continued to walk along the valley towards the hill where the red headed Empress stood with her back to them. An unnaturally tall man who looked like a deranged version of Severus stepped forward. Severus put her behind him, and pulled out his wand from one of his sleeves.

The deranged version of Severus laughed coldly, "Do you really think you'll be able to protect her from me?"

Severus narrowed his eyes, "Yes, because unlike you, I have gotten over my past. I no longer hate others as you do."

"Not even that twit Potter?"  
"No."  
"Draco?"  
"You'll leave my godson out of this," Severus nearly shouted.

The evil version of Severus stepped further into the light, revealing a half skeletal face, and rotting torso. The rest were covered with horrible scars, and bruises. Then the worst was to come when he began to grow taller. Hermione whipped out her own wand and stepped to Severus's side.

"Hermione, no, this is not your fight!" Severus shouted, trying to drag her back behind him.

She wrenched herself out of his grasp. "No! It _is_ my fight! Because if we're going to have any chance of getting out of here, I need to fight with you, not play the damsel in distress. I'm not a lady's maid any more, but your witch."

Severus's eyes went wide. "We can discuss this another time. For now, let's kill this demon. Agreed?"

Hermione had never felt so determined in her life when she said, "Yes. Agreed."

Severus nodded, and they split up. The demon Severus had grown to a colossal eight foot tall, and started shooting out fire balls towards them. She dodged out of the creature's path just in time, because one of the creature's clawed hands grabbed Severus and was choking the life out of him. It was lifting him up and was about to devour him whole when Hermione cast with her wand, "INCAREROUS MAXIMA!!"

The demon screamed a high pitched, almost banshee-like scream when spiked chains flew out of her wand. Severus was dropped, and Hermione cast, "Arresto momentum!"

His body suspended itself a foot from hitting the ground, and she let him down gently. Severus looked pretty beat up, and bloody, but he was still breathing that was the important thing.

"Are you okay, Severus?" She asked, kneeling down beside him. His obsidian eyes looked up at her, and softened.

A weary smile spread across his face, and he said, coughing, "I'll live. Help me up. I have to be the one to kill him."

She nodded, and helped him up. "Are you sure? I have no problems doing it. We faced other dangers together."

Severus grinned, "I know, witch. But you would never be able to forgive yourself for killing a part of myself. Do you understand?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, of course." He nodded back, and got up. He dusted himself off, and tears formed in his eyes as he declared, "I'm not afraid of you, demon! I'm not afraid to rule my lands, or move on with my life. Because I have something you do not, and will never have... _Tobias_!"

The evil part of Severus shrank away to a rather skinny, older man in a fine toga. His black eyes sneered up at him as he continued to cut himself on Hermione's spiked chains. Severus whispered something so low that Hermione couldn't make out what he said, but the Roman nobleman became enraged and, were it not for the chains holding him, he would have tried to kill him.

"Avada Kedavra... _father_ ," Severus cast with his sleek black wand. Green magic flew out of the wand, and it struck the older man dead on. Hermione added her magic to his, and cast the killing curse as well. The older Roman man ceased his struggling, and shattered into millions of pieces.

A dilapidated villa that used to be grand rose before them, and Severus walked towards it, as if in a trance. He turned to face her, and he grabbed on to the rusted, iron gate as if his life depended on it.

"This is my childhood home," He explained, his breathing heavy. "A lot of abuse happened behind these walls. I think...I think that this is the last obstacle before we confront Lily. Are you certain that you still want to be with me if we go inside? My past is not...pleasant."

Hermione touched his face, and kissed his lips chastely. "You confronted my past with me: my parent's neglect, my loneliness in the palace. My happiness at marrying Harry, and the pain of losing him. I didn't want to let go of all of that, but you helped me, Severus. It's only right that I return the favor."

Severus kissed her lightly, making her whole body tingle. "Very well, when you put it that way. Let's journey on, shall we?"

Hermione took his hand in his, and together, they walked into the courtyard of the dilapidated villa before them, and like all of their other dangers, they leaned on each other for support, and love. But it was unconditional love above all that got them through the painful memories of the past...


	10. A Painful Past Pt. 3: Severus

The villa was more dilapidated than he remembered it. But it had not been in great shape when he last left the family home at fifteen to be honest. He opened the rusted rod iron gate, and it let out a loud squeak as he held out his wand in front of him.

"Lumos," He muttered.  
"Lumos," Lady Hermione muttered beside him.

She was a calming presence beside him, because he knew that without her, he probably would not make it out of this all consuming grief that had engulfed his life ever since he killed his father after he killed his mother Lady Eileen in her solarium one morning. What was especially revolting was that the fiend was in the passionate throes of raping her corpse before his gladius put a stop to such perversion. Thank the gods, he didn't witness the murder, that would have made it infinitely worse.

The villa had once been beautiful and prosperous. But ever since his father fell out of favor with the muggle Caesar at the time, the family finances went with it when Severus turned nine years old. His father Tobias took it out on his family, and even though they still had their good name, it wasn't enough to keep the money rolling in. Slaves had to be sold off, the winery closed down to pay for their myriad debts; it was very sad. But at the time, Severus was a bit too young to understand why his father was so enraged with everything and everyone around him.

Severus walked silently, lost in the memories, and when they got to what was his mother's solarium, he paused at the archway to go into the inner courtyard.

"I...I can't," He whispered, tearing up. "I can't go in there."

Hermione looked up at him, her face filled with compassion. "What's in that solarium, Severus?" She asked.

He tucked an unruly lock of hair behind her left ear. "My parents, they...my father, as you know, abused me. We confronted this already, but I didn't tell you what I had to do to...to..."

Hermione stepped closer to him, and touched his face, and he looked in her eyes. "Please tell me, Severus. It feels like you have buried this pain for a long time."

He cried then, and sniffed, "My father killed my mother, Hermione. Right in her own personal courtyard. She was relaxing by the outer bath, and my father...I was told by what servants we still had, that there was blood everywhere. But I wasn't there in time to save her...and he...he was...r-raping her corpse. There was...s-so much blood."

Hermione looked shocked. "How revolting! I...I can't even _imagine_ something so perverse."

He nodded, and pulled her to him. She held him like a child, and he clung to her like a drowning man to a plank of wood in an ocean.

After he dried his tears, he cleared his throat, and said hoarsely, "I suppose I need to face this at last. I will understand if you do not wish to see it."

A look of determination flashed in her amber eyes, "We're in this together. You and me, Severus," She said firmly, "I know we cannot leave your mind without facing these demons head on. You still have to confront Lily."

He allowed himself a small smile, "Most women would have run screaming when faced with my past."

"I'm not most women."  
"I know," He said, kissing her hand. "You're strong, much stronger than you know. I never realized until now how much I needed strength in a partner."

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, and he pressed his lips to hers briefly. "Nor I," She admitted, "But can you do one thing for me once we're free of this mind journey?"

"Anything."  
"Never be afraid to be your most sensitive around me in private," She said, "I know you have to be strong in public, but when it's just us, alone, can we promise to never be afraid to be vulnerable with each other?"

He kissed her chastely, "I promise."

"I promise too."

They let go of each other, emboldened by their promise, and went into the solarium. Blood was everywhere, and dripping into the pool in the middle of the outside room, staining the water red. A sound of a woman moaning in pleasure was drifting over to them, only the black haired witch on the ground was half rotted away, and her big lover thrusting away at his willing witch was a mass of bones and half rotted flesh. But the smell overpowered everything else.

The skull of the man twisted to look at them, and a cold laugh issued from its lips. "Ah, the two lovers at last," Its voice was cold, and without emotion. "Why don't you join us, boy? I can show you what to do to please that delicious thing beside you."

Severus stepped in front of Hermione. "You touch her, and I will send you back to Tartarus where you both belong."

The corpse that was his father stood up, and faced them. But his mother was with it, and they both faced them down. Hermione began fighting with the female demon, and so he lost track of her as his father began choking him. The touch was cold as ice, but it burned. It burned as hot as fire.

Then there was a piercing white light, and Lucius Malfoy was there. "Get your hands off my brother, demon!" He shouted. "Reducto!"

The corpse above him blew away in a million pieces, and Severus coughed from being almost strangled to death. Hermione was still grappling with the female demon, and both wizards faced down the corpse demon together.

Hermione had received a deep gash on her right cheek from the demon's claws. Lucius moved forward, but he blocked him. She was his responsibility after all.

He began muttering a healing chant over her injuries, and they sealed up. When she was healed, and the wounds closed up, she cried. "Can we leave now?" She asked softly.

He kissed her forehead. "Yes, yes, I think we can. Can you walk?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes."  
She then noticed the handsome blonde wizard standing there watching them, and she asked, "Why are you here, Senator Malfoy?"

"I'm here to save my cousin," Lucius answered, "The same as you. You two have been gone a long time. Far longer than is healthy for a mind journey."

"How long?" Severus asked.  
At first, the blonde wizard didn't want to answer his Caesar, but then he muttered, "Five years."

Severus drew back in shock. "Gods...Well, we have to confront Lily. That is the last challenge, she is the last of my demons. Are you certain you wish to stay, brother?"

Lucius nodded, "Yes. I swore to you when we became blood brothers as teenagers to be there for you, Severus. I just didn't think it would be to confront your late wife."

"Agreed. Let's go then."  
"Yes, let's," Severus agreed, hugging the handsome blonde wizard, "The sooner we're free of this place the sooner I can rule as I should."

"Does that mean..." Lucius trailed off, genuinely surprised.

Hermione blushed, and looked up at Severus. He winked at her, "We have not discussed it formally," He finally answered, "But it seems a natural conclusion."

Lucius smiled. "Aw, come here, little sister. Come on, hugs all around."

Hermione let herself be hugged by the Senator, and she looked very uncomfortable. Severus laughed, and at the sound of his laughter, the gloomy, macabre villa disappeared, and the tall hill appeared before them. She pulled away from Lucius, and took his hand in hers.

"Is he always so effusive?" She stage whispered to him.

"Yes, in private like this."  
"Gods help us all."  
"Yes, indeed."

Lucius joined them, and they all held hands as they walked up the hill to confront the very last challenge set before the haunted Caesar in order to erase the painful violence of his past at long last...


	11. Killing The Past: Severus

The wizarding Caesar, a Senator, and a brunette witch held hands as they walked up the smooth incline of the hill. Sunlight hit the tops of the trees, and a beautiful shade awaited them.

Lily turned around, and she was just as lovely and beautiful as he remembered her. But in his mind, she seemed to glow with an inner light, and she looked positively radiant. She wore one of her light blue stolas, and was smiling at him as he approached.

"Severus, we meet again at long last," Lily said. "But you need to free me. I cannot be your source of happiness, no girl can be. It must come from within."

Hermione and Lucius approached, and Lily looked them over. "You need to go home, Lucius," Lily said, "What I have to say concerns Lady Hermione and Severus alone. But do tell Narcissa that I will care for Cassandra with my Markus in the afterlife. I was most sad to see her lose that child."

Lucius teared up, and nodded. "She...She will be comforted by that, my lady. Thank you."

A shimmering portal formed, and Lucius stepped through it. When it closed, Lily turned to them, and said to Hermione, "May I speak with Severus alone, dear? There are things he needs to know in order to not fall into melancholy again."

"Yes, but I will tolerate no tricks."  
Lily shook her head, "No, of course not. I do not doubt your devotion to him, but he needs to let go of his past. You may wait here."

Severus looked at Hermione, and she embraced him tightly. "I will be back, my lady. I swear it."

Hermione cried, "You better. I...Yes, you should go. It was just like when I had to do this: alone. I have faith in us."

He felt his heart flutter at that, but kept his face impassive. "Us, my lady?"

Hermione nodded. "Us."  
"Us it shall be, then," He agreed.

He walked over to Lily, and they walked over to the other side of the huge oak tree that was on her childhood property, and it was also the site where he asked her to be his wife. They sat across from one another on the soft grass, and Lily smoothed her red hair out of her eyes.

"You still have the choice to abandon this girl, or come with me, Severus," Lily finally said.

"And what would I have in the afterlife besides this purgatory?" He asked, genuinely curious.

Lily began to tear up, and her lip quivered as she said, "Well, there would be me, and our families, and we could all be together as we should be."

The sky began to darken around him, and then he saw the corpses of all of the men he killed in battle, the women and children. Then the sky lightened again, and Lily was looking at him sadly. She reached out for him, but her touch was ice cold, and wrong to him. He shrank from her touch.

"No, shade," He said, standing. "My Lily is dead. She was burned along with our children. Now, leave me. Now."

Lily' s eyes narrowed, "I never thought you would choose _her_. What has my maid ever done for _you_?! Has she borne your children, and lost them? Has she mourned their loss? Does she truly know of the darkness which lies inside of you?"

Severus thought back to all of the many dangers he faced with Lady Hermione Potter. He realized that she had been his beacon of light and hope for him. When she had faced down her own darkness inside of her, he had also been there for her. He then realized that through all of these dangers that they both had come to care deeply for one another.

"Yes, she does Lily," Severus finally declared, "And what is more is that even if she does not love me, I love her, and I have discovered that it is not too late to love and be loved in return."

Lily looked thunderstruck by his words. She backed away from him, and faded away from him. But before she did, she said, "Farewell, Severus. I love you."

Hermione approached him, and she looked amazed at what she had overheard. "Is...is it true, Severus? Are you really choosing me of all people? You could have any one. The finest ladies--"

"Could never compare to you," Severus said, kissing her hand. "Come with me, Hermione. We have an Empire to rule. If you believe that you can tolerate being around me for any length of time, that is."

Hermione laughed, and wiped at her tears. "You're not so bad. I think you are just as moody as I am, so we're a good match. My answer is yes, I will rule by your side."

He took her hand in his, and the portal opened up. They shared a look, and somehow he knew in that moment, Empire or no, that they were going to be fine so long as they had each other. They walked through hand in hand, without even a backward glance, because the future was here, and the past was but a memory to be put to rest at last...


	12. The Resurrection: Hermione

The brunette witch felt stiffness, and pain as she came out of her dreaming mind. She looked over at Severus, and a smile played about her lips as he groaned in pain. An overwhelming feeling of tenderness washed over her as she looked at Caesar Severus. He looked like some dark angel who was sleeping contentedly in repose. They had faced all of their demons together, and came out stronger for it. 

But would he marry her? That was the big question, and it was one that nagged at her, because she cared so deeply for him that she was afraid to claim her feelings as love, for fear that he would reject her. Severus looked over at her, and said, "I meant what I said earlier, about us being together."

Her heart began to pick up the pace. "Oh, Severus!" She gushed, throwing her arms around him.

He scowled at her, and then glanced at the maids pretending not to watch them. He gently pried her fingers off of him, and whispered in her ear, "I would wait until we did not have an audience. Remember our positions."

Hermione knew what he meant by that, and sighed in resignation. He was right, of course, even when they were married, they wouldn't be able to be publicly affectionate, because of protocol. 

"Alright, but in private..."  
He leaned over, and whispered in her ear, "Well, then you will see a side of me I will share with no one else."

Hermione's cheeks heated up. She cleared her throat, and whispered back, "Nor would I want you to share that side of yourself with anyone else."

He was about to say something else, but Lucius Malfoy burst into the room, accompanied by his son Draco. Lucius hugged his cousin, and the two cousins hugged each other for a long time. Hermione and Draco looked at each other for a long time, and she held out her arms.

He hugged her tight, and said, "Thank the gods you two are alright. You two had me and father just worried sick."

They pulled away from each other, and looked away awkwardly. Before she married Harry Potter, they had had a brief affair that didn't end well, because of politics. But they had always remained on friendly terms, and it was nice that her late husband's oldest friend was still around to look after her; she knew that Harry would have approved of him being there for her.

Lucius bowed in her direction and said politely, "It is a great relief to see that you well again, my lady."

"Thank you, my lord," Hermione said politely. She didn't know if she would ever completely like the senator, but if Severus trusted him, then that was good enough for her.

Her limbs felt better, but she felt so tired. Severus had already fallen asleep, and she curled up in his arms. Severus grunted in his sleep, but he wrapped an arm protectively around her, and she felt him press a sleepy kiss on her temple. She fell into a deep, peaceful sleep after that, convinced that all was right in the world. But what no one had told Caesar yet was that a dark wizard had come to power, and he wanted only one thing: The gold laurel crown of Caesar himself...


	13. An Imperial Wedding: Hermione

Three Years Later

Her veil was fastened on to her hair with the last of her jeweled pins. Her plum purple stola was heavily embroidered and made of fine silks. There were jeweled golden sandals upon her feet. Hermione turned this way and that in the mirrors as her ladies finished applying her makeup. She looked like the picture perfect Empress that she was going to be, only it felt somewhat false to her, because she didn't love Severus for his title but for himself. He could be the poorest wizard alive, and yet she would love him for himself.

"Courage, Hermione," She whispered aloud. You can do this."

With that note of encouragement, the brunette witch crossed the grounds of the palace to her waiting chariot escorted by her ladies in waiting. Flowers and musicians played music, and the Imperial guards surrounded her chariot as the procession took off, and made its way through the city, until it came to the temple of the gods.

Inside, the temple was sumptuously decorated with fine silks and magical illusions of mythical creatures floated through the air above the noble wizarding class. She knew that some whispering their disapproval of the Emperor's bride not being a pureblood witch, but then again, Lady Liliana Evans had not been a pureblood as well, so there really was no difference in Hermione's mind.

She made note of who spoke ill of her, and decided that she would move on them if they attacked her openly. The red velvet carpet below her feet was strewn with all manner of flowers, and as she neared the altar and saw her husband to be, she felt time slow for her, and there was no one but her and her groom in this place.

Severus looked on her with eyes of pure love, but as he took her hands in hers to face her, he looked outwardly impassive and cold as always. The magical bands of bonding wrapped around their hands as the temple high priest guided them through the binding ceremony.

"By my hands, I bind myself to you," They repeated after the high priest, "By my heart, I become yours, and by my body I do worship and become one with only you. From this day, and all the days to come, and by the gods, plight my troth to you."

The priest made a small cut on both of their hands, and as Hermione felt her blood mix with her husband's, she shivered at the pulse of magical energies running between them. When the temple high priest bid that Caesar kiss his bride, the dour wizard Emperor pulled his bride into his arms and started to kiss her gently, and pull away, but his love for her made him kiss her deeply. Hermione clinged to him, running her fingers through his soft black hair as their tongues touched.

" _I love you, Hermione,"_ He said to her mentally, his voice hoarse with emotion, " _And I will love no one else, so long as we are bound in heart and soul."_

 _"I love you, Severus,"_ She cried, mentally, _"You and no other, so long as I live, always."_

A tear leaked down his cheek, but he gave away no other emotion openly. But as they looked out on the crowd of people present, she could feel her husband's emotions as her own, a sure sign that the magical, marital bond had formed between them.

Severus stepped forward, and called for her gold laurel crown. Hermione knelt at her husband's feet, and he crowned her Empress. The crowd's response was electric with delight. There was one wizard in the crowd who did not share in this joy of unity in the Empire. A certain brunette wizard that Hermione wished had died a long time ago in her past when he nearly died by the end of Harry Potter's wand and gladius: Markus Granger.

"Come, men," Markus said, "I have seen enough. It is time to put the next stage of our plan into place. The bitch may enjoy her little plans, but I want the midwives informed immediately to put in effect the plans, should my bastard sister conceive by the tyrant."

"It worked for the last husband," A follower of his murmured. "This one will be no different."

Markus laughed over his fifth glass of wine at the reception banquet. "Ah, but see, I want her to know that her bloodline will never thrive. Such will be my revenge for the offense done to our pureblood mother Bellatrix. I want her to know it was me this time, and it always will be. Make certain that she does not survive this next attempt at motherhood."

"Yes, my Lord," A follower of his said. Markus dismissed everyone, and removed his half white mask. The mirror on his bedroom wall revealed a male version of Empress Hermione, save that the right side of his face was burned beyond repair by Prince Harry Potter.

He would have the throne of Caesar, even if it took the life of his twin sister to do it. He would do what he must for the sake of purity in the realm, for no longer would a half breed sit upon the throne...he would make certain of it. Or die trying....


	14. The Wedding Night: Hermione

The Imperial bed chamber was prepared with fine flowers, and sweet smelling incense burning. Severus chuckled at the preparations the servants made for them while they were being married in the Parthenon. 

"I find it absurd that people almost deify such a bestial act," He remarked, undressing out of his clothes. "Do you not find it to be so?"

Hermione chuckled, "I suppose it is that way to virgins. I was certainly not told what to do, or what to expect before my first wedding night."

She tried to unknot one of the laces on her underbust cord that held up her bosom. "Shit," She remarked. 

Severus lifted an eyebrow. "Do you need help?" 

She tried the double knot again, and found that it was fastened tight as tight can be. "Yes, thank you, Severus."

He approached her, and she couldn't help but like what she saw of her husband's naked body. Harry had had a nice body, but he had been really skinny, and while not gaunt, he was still a boy physically; this was a man. Wow, she knew that she was in for a real treat. 

The knot came free from his nimble fingers, and her stola fell off her body. Hermione stepped out of the finely embroidered silks, and she tentatively reached out to caress his cheek. He stiffened against her touch, but then he pulled her to him, and lifted her in his arms to carry her to the rose covered bed. Red rose petals fell all around her as her back hit the bed, and they kissed passionately as they explored each other. 

"You're beautiful," He murmured as he kissed along her neck, "Like a delicate flower I want to caress and delve into all night long."

"Oh, Severus...I..."  
"Shhh," He winked, putting a finger to her lips. "Let me explore what is now mine." 

She laid back and closed her eyes as her husband kissed along her thighs and began to suck and lick along the juncture of her legs. She bucked her hips in response, and soon almost blacked out when she reached her climax. 

Severus grinned wickedly, "My turn."

He kissed up her body, and began to tease and suckle her breasts, gently teasing them slightly with his teeth. 

"Mmm, Severus..." Hermione murmured, "I need you."

He dropped her right breast with a wet plop and fitted himself to her entrance...

✂----------

Severus

He slid into his wife's tight wetness, and nearly wept at how good it felt, how it made him feel purified of all of the pain, and grief of his recent years. In other words, She felt perfect. 

He began to move, slowly at first within her, but then picked up the pace as their love and passion for one another came to the fore. Soon enough, they were making love all over the bed chamber, and when he found his release, he poured all of his love, tenderness, and passion into the willing witch beneath him, and felt as clean and pure as a wizard with as much blood on his hands could feel. 

As Hermione slept within his arms, he kissed the top of her head, and cried into her now frizzy, brown hair. "Thank you," He whispered in her ear, and in that small act of gratitude, he was able to sleep for the first time without any nightmares of his abusive childhood, or years of blood coming back to haunt him. He was...free...But little did both the Imperial couple know was that they were not out of the woods yet in terms of conflict and pain in their lives...


	15. A Dark Prince Is Born: Hermione

"Push, my Queen," The midwife ordered. "Just one more should do it."

Hermione sat in a seated position, helped by her ladies in order to bring this child into the world. Hermione pushed, screaming out the pain that ripped through her body. What she didn't see was that at a crucial moment, the chief midwife slit the child's throat and it did not make a sound as it was born. The child would have been a girl.

But then another child was born. The midwives looked on with shock as this child, a male it looked like, was born, and when the midwife went to kill this second baby, the child's eyes flew open, and did wordless magic, and cast a curse that crushed the old woman's wind pipe. She died instantly. The other ladies looked on this unnaturally gifted wizard baby with fear.

Hermione woke up from her fainting spell, and asked, "Well, what is it? A boy, or a girl?"

"A boy, my lady," A midwife said. She cut the ambilical cord, and cleaned him off. Hermione looked down at her son. A Prince! She knew that Severus would be more than pleased with this outcome. 

Black eyes stared up at her, along with a soft down of black hair on his head. He also had his father's pallor, but her nose and lips. He would be a handsome young man when he grew into his features, she knew. She had heard some loud yelling on the other side of the door of the birthing room, and then the screams of some hapless idiotic doctors who tried to keep their Caesar out of the room. 

Anger flashed across his face as he sheathed his bloodied gladius. His face softened when he saw her with their new baby, and how her son was pawing at her chest for milk. She freed her left breast, and immediately, the child began to suckle her, drawing deep on her milk. 

"Ouch," She muttered, kissing the top of her son's head, "You're greedy, just like your father."

Severus chuckled, "I think he may just have a deep seated love of breasts. Just like I seem to for yours, love."

"Come sit, I think he wants to see you," Hermione said. She handed their son to him, and her heart soared as a big boyish grin spread across her husband's face.

"He's beautiful," Severus teared up, "Truly. I cannot believe that we have a Prince to call our own. I hope that more follow."

Hermione nodded, agreeing, "Of course. But I think that a wet nurse is needed. Unless you object to my feeding him myself."

"I wouldn't want you to lose your figure for the sake of your duty," Severus explained gently. 

Hermione understood. She didn't altogether agree with the policy, but as the husband, his word was law as the paterfamilias. 

"Very well, send in the nurse," Hermione ordered. The wet nurse, a sweet blonde witch whose name escaped her, came in, and took the little Prince away. 

Hermione soon fell asleep, and no one, not even her husband, mentioned the fact that there had been two murders committed the day Prince Darius was born, one by a treacherous midwife, and the other by the seemingly innocent wizard child that she loved fiercely the moment he was placed in her arms...

✒-------

Markus

He had listened to his servant's reports when it was given to him. He killed the foolish bitch who dared to impart such news. The Prince had killed his own midwife without uttering a verbal spell! They had tried to prevent the Emperor from coming into the birthing chamber to see the evidence, but his rage had been terrible to behold. 

The foolish midwife had killed the wrong baby. The Prince was far more dangerous than the Princess was by far. There was but one solution open to him: he had to make his intentions known: he had to kill his bastard sister, and he had to do it now before she bred more dark wizards and witches from her cursed womb. 

"Soon, bitch," Markus Granger cackled, as he sat brooding by his fire in a nasty, run down villa. "Soon I will have your life, as my father should have had your stupid muggle mother's life as soon as he found out she bore such an abomination."

With that thought, the brown haired pure blood wizard planned, and plotted how best to sneak past the guards surrounding the Empress, and when his knife was coated in her vile life's blood, then he could feel at peace at last, come hell or high water...


	16. Unfinished Business: Markus

The bitch was highly guarded, more so now that Caesar had found out about the dead Princess, and informed his mudblood wife about it. But on the night of the funeral, he was delighted to see that for once, the gods favored him. 

The handsome brown haired wizard moved like a dark shadow through the palace. His spies had informed him that the Empress already had a wet nurse for the Prince. Good. Everything was going according to plan. He just hoped that the wet nurse he hired wouldn't get careless, and let her know her intentions to the abominable child. He was dangerous, and powerful; if he could kill one time, he could do it again. 

"The guards are moving away...now," His spy reported, looking out at the Emperor's rooms through the windows. 

Markus nodded, and paid the guard his promised amount of denarius in a money bag. The spy tied it to his belt, and stealthily moved along his merry way.

Markus crept along, and was delighted that the bitch was going to bed early. Oh, thanks be to whatever gods were favoring him! He smiled sardonically. The drapes billowed with the coming breeze, and he slipped in. 

The Emperor's chambers were ornate, and richly decorated, far too grand for the likes of his bastard half sister. But that mistake would soon be corrected, of that he had no doubt. She was sleeping in the huge bed. There were tears on her cheeks, of course, there were, the stupid chit lost one of her little abominations. 

He drank his polyjuice potion, and he hated having to disguise himself as her husband, but he had to play the part to the hilt, so to speak. 

He felt like puking as he began to kiss up her thighs, and pleasure her between her legs. "Mmm, Severus...don't stop," She moaned in her sleep.

He continued to torture her pussy mercilessly, and then he began to pound her into the bed over and over again. Hermione then screamed, not with pleasure, but with horror.

"Shut up, bitch!" He growled, and put his hand on her mouth hard in order to stop her screams. He turned her over and had her ass. She was crying, begging him to stop, that it hurt. 

He put his dagger to her throat. "Not one more whimper, bitch. Or I will cut your throat."

She lay motionless then, crying silently as he thrust hard in and out of her ass, and then filling her. "Now, get up. We're going to disapparate, you and I to where it all began. You remember, right?"

"H-Home."  
"That's right, my little whore," He taunted, "Too bad you were much too young for me to have been your first. But we fixed that, didn't we...sister?"

"My husband will kill you," Hermione threatened coldly, "When he finds I'm gone, there will be nowhere on Earth you will be able to hide. My son already killed his midwife. It must have been a blow to your ego when a small baby killed your would be assassin."

"Shut up!" He shouted.

  
He knicked her throat with his dagger, and forced her to walk. Unfortunately, the apparation point was directly through the funeral party. Hermione shouted at the top of her lungs, "HELP!! SOMEBODY!!"

But the noise from the crowds gathered to see the baby Princess burned on her funeral pyre was too much, and Markus laughed like a mad man as they found the apparation point, and he and his unwilling companion disapparated to home...where it all began, before the good life in Rome, before love changed the Empress's life. No, sometimes the past catches up with you, and you have to face it, one way or the other...


	17. Unfinished Business Pt. 2: Hermione

Capua...Where else but Capua would her crazed half brother take her? What the fool didn't realize was that when she verbally shouted for someone, anyone to help her, she had already contacted Severus through her bond with him, and he told her to not act like she was wise to the psycho's plan, and to be strong, he was coming for her.

The villa where her family once lived was burnt to the ground still. No one had dared to repair it after she had burned it down to protect herself from almost being raped by her half brother once before. Well, she supposed he succeeded in that now, as well as had her daughter Lydia killed. But her son was too much like his father: A survivor. Oh yes, she knew that from the moment her little Prince Darius was placed in her arms that he was a survivor.

Markus forced her down into what was once the wine cellar, and bound her to his filthy, musty bed. " _I'm coming for you, love,"_ Severus said to her mentally. " _Just keep your mind open to me, and I will find you."_

" _Hurry, Severus, please."_  
 _"I know, I'm coming."_

He ripped her rich stola off of her body, and began raping her again, each thrust more brutal than before. Severus was close, she could feel it. His mind told her to be strong, to think only of him, of their son, and there was only one thing she could do: try to free herself. When Markus tried to kiss her, she bit down on his lower lip hard, and spit his blood back in his face. He backhanded her, but not before Severus apparated into the room, and shouted, "Stupify!"

Markus went flying against the wall, and was out like a light. Hermione could feel her body going hot and cold, and then she was trembling as if with a fever.

She had tunnel vision of Severus ordering his men to grab the prisoner, and his strong arms wrapping around her naked body as he freed her from her shackles. She blacked out, and when she came to, she was back in the Imperial Palace again, safe, but with lingering nightmares of her half brother raping her over and over again, first as himself, and then as a rotting, burnt corpse...

✒--------

Severus

The dour Emperor wanted nothing more than to kill this piece of shit who felt it necessary to break into his own rooms as him, and rape his Empress violently in her own home! This wizard's act was beyond depraved, and despicable, it was almost abominable, as he committed perverse incest with his own half sister!

Draco met up with him, and asked, "Do you have the warrant for crucifixion?"

"Yes, but Uncle...shouldn't the man have a trial?" Draco dared to ask. "I mean, I know Harry tried to kill him for trying to do the same thing, and Hermione burned down the villa instead, but he is a citizen of the Empire. Does he not have those rights? Where is your prudent of wrong doing?"

He rounded on his godson, and shouted, "I saw the bastard attempting to rape my wife myself! I need no more proof than that. The man is guilty, and I want him dead. You will ensure this passes in the Senate, or you will soon follow on the cross. Do I make myself clear??"

Draco's gray eyes filled with fear at his words. "Y-Yes, Caesar. He will die as you ordered."

Severus signed his name on the death warrant with a flourish. After concluding his daily business for the day, he checked on Hermione, and she was still being plagued by nightmares and trauma. Prince Darius whined for his mother, and he gathered up his son, and woke his wife gently.

"Darling," He coaxed, "Hermione, love. Your son needs your breast. And your love."

Hermione's eyes flew open, and she saw her son, and opened up her night dress to hold their son. Immediately, some light filled her as the little Prince worked some kind of magic on her, and for the first time in two weeks, she looked truly healthy, and of sound mind.

"Did...did you just _heal_ me, Darius?" She asked her son. The little Prince just looked up at her and laughed.

Severus laughed as well, and he said, "I guess that means he did. He did avenge Lydia's death by killing the midwife responsible, after all."

"But how?"  
"Magic is wild in magical babies," He explained, "It's the reason we learn to use wands to channel our magic, but wandless magic is true magic, Hermione. I know it, and I guess our son knows it."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, and her voice became cold "Please tell me that Markus will die for his crimes, Severus. I want him to suffer."

He smiled, and nodded, "I signed the death warrant myself today. He will die on the cross."

"Good. I want his back laid open by the whip, and for him to dig his own hole to put in the stake for his cross," Hermione continued, in the coldest tone of voice he had ever heard before, "I want that weapon between his legs ripped from root and stem as one of the nails is placed there, impaling him to that cross, and his teeth and nails pulled out one by one. Oh, and if he dies before being nailed to the cross, the soldier who allowed it to happen will share his fate."

"I will make sure to order the guards to make the adjustments," He said, kissing her cheek. Darius was done being fed, and he handed the little Prince off to his wife's ladies to be attended to in the nursery. Hermione soon fell asleep, completely exhausted, but he knew that she would watch every bit of her half brother's execution, of that he had absolutely no doubt...


	18. The Death Of The Past: Hermione

The brief three day trial was a farce, and everyone present knew it, because the death warrant had already been signed, sealed, and delivered. No, the trial had simply be uphold the law.

She fought the urge every time she saw Markus's smug, proud face, to curse him where he stood. She gave her testimony, and gave graphic, explicit detail of what the bastard did to her, and how she had occasional nightmares still of him raping her. She even gave the details of how he succeeded in having Princess Lydia murdered in cold blood as soon as she was born, and he almost succeeded in killing her son, Prince Darius.

Markus looked almost forlorn as the Judge found him guilty of all of his crimes. Hermione thought that he must have been banking on being found not guilty, and leaving the courthouse a free wizard, simply because of his pure blood status.

Hermione left the courthouse feeling like she was on top of the world, by comparison, and she dressed with care on the morning of the execution. She chose to wear the deepest plum purple and black silks, and look every inch Rome's Empress. Severus chose to wear his usual somber toga and silks.

They entered their plush box at the colosseum, and Hermione ordered a feast to be brought to them while she chose to breastfeed her son openly, and let Darius play with her jewelry while she rocked him against her breast. She didn't trust any other possible wet nurses after the last one nearly tried to kill her son.

"May I hold him?" Severus asked as the official game announcer announced that the murderer of the Princess was being brought to justice. The crowd booed and threw their rotten food at the broken and bleeding wizard lashed to the crossbar of his own stake.

Hermione handed over their son to her husband, and she booed along with the crowd, and threw food at her child's killer. At the last moment, the bastard actually tried to fight being nailed with the huge nine inch nails it required to be nailed to a cross.

He was finally subdued, and as Markus was nailed to the stake as he was stripped naked, his genitals were ripped from his body, slowly, torturously, the Empress ate a pomegranate, and relished every sweet, sour bite. The nail was rammed hard through the empty, bloody space where his genitals were once.

Hermione laughed, a cold, depraved laugh as she delighted in the suffering of her last living relative of her horrible past. Markus's screams were blood curdling as the other nails were nailed into his feet and wrists.

It took two hours for the condemned to die, but Hermione watched, transfixed as she finally watched the last of her old life die with the final exhalation of Markus's cursed breath leaving his blood filled lungs for the last time.

She breathed an immense breath of relief, and said, "Thank the gods, it's over, and our son is safe at last."

Severus nodded, smiling, "Yes, justice has been served this day. Let us go home, and celebrate. What do you say?"

Hermione kissed her son's forehead and handed him to one of her ladies. "I think that's a fabulous idea, love. Come, I think a private celebration is in order, just the two of us."

Her husband caught the gleam in her eyes, and said, "Yes, I have to agree with you there. Let's go."

She put her hand in his, and they left the colosseum in triumphant, hopeful spirits, knowing that this great threat to their family was dead, and could never return to threaten them again. Hermione herself had never felt such love as she did that day, because it marked the ending of one life, and the start of her new one with her husband, and love of her life, proving that it is never too late to find love, even when one thinks that all hope is lost.

As for the Emperor and Empress of Rome, they lived for many, many years, and had six more children; their children had sixteen children between them, ten grandchildren, and twenty great-grandchildren. Both the Emperor and Emperess died in each other's arms peacefully one night, old and full of years, and Caesar Severus was honored as one of the most just, fair minded, and steady leaders that wizarding Rome has ever had in its long history...


End file.
